6222 University Ave — What We Carry With Us

Okay, this is a two-parter. I want to begin with some important news and then share a few of my musings. I promise the two are connected and will hopefully serve as more of a discussion starter than a definitive conclusion.

First Things First 

You may not know it, but something significant happened last week. It was an ordinary Tuesday, not a notable date on the calendar, but it mattered deeply to our community: the Windsor campus building at 6222 University Ave was sold. 

For many years, 6222 University Ave was a place where members of our community worshiped, raised children, built friendships, and cared for the poor or hungry neighbors. God was present in every part of it. If you've driven by recently and noticed the new sign, I imagine it stirred something in you. It did in me, too. My hope is that you'll hold on to the blessings that building, its
people, and its ministries gave us. 

Back in April, we shared that after careful and prayerful deliberation, the decision had been made to
sell. I'm deeply grateful to the team who prepared the building for sale and guided this process: Wendell Saunders, Ed Williamson, Allison Steuterman, Linda Van Roekel, Rod Musser, Scott Davis, and many others. Members from both 6222 University Ave and 2900 49th Street came together, weighed every option, and considered how each choice would shape our shared ministry. 

With maintenance costs continuing to rise, selling was the right decision. God provided a buyer who will keep the site in ministry: a pastor searching for space who contacted us unexpectedly and was ready to make an offer. Our team was honest about the building's needs, and that transparency helped the new congregation move forward with confidence. The process moved quickly but smoothly. 

Theology of Location 

I moved around a lot growing up. While there were challenges, there were also opportunities. Each move introduced me to a new community, new friends, and a chance to reinvent parts of myself. I was still Jon Bailey, but I could leave behind old mistakes and keep the parts worth carrying forward. 

Because of those experiences, physical locations never seemed especially important to me. The people in those places mattered more. 

Here's my honest confession: I loved that building at 6222 University Ave. Not just the brick and stained glass, but what happened inside it the walls. The prayers, friendships, and children who grew up in its halls.    

Early in ministry I served a new church start that met in an elementary school. Each Sunday we built a worship space from scratch and packed it away before noon. There was freedom in that. Yet the question people asked most often was, "When are we going to get a building?" At the time,
I didn't have a good answer. I do now. A building holds what you can't carry alone. It remembers for you, even when you forget. 

Some will point out that Jesus rarely stayed in one place. His ministry happened in marketplaces, homes, hillsides, and along dusty roads. John Wesley famously said, "The world is my parish," reminding us that God's love reaches beyond any one building. 

But I don't think that's the whole truth. Physical places matter. Think about your childhood home and the memories it still stirs. We attach milestones, traditions, and relationships to places, whether we mean to or not. Those spaces help shape who we become. 

Still, a deeper truth remains: the church was never only the walls. It was, and is, the people who gathered within them. That same community and love continue today at 2900 49th Street. 

For everyone who worshiped for years at 6222 University Ave, I'm grateful that we continue this ministry together in a new home. As you pass that new sign on University Avenue, would you say a prayer for the people who now gather there? May they find what we found: joy, connection, and the presence of a God who loves them fully. May that building bless them as it blessed us. 

- Pastor Jon Bailey